Change.

A question came up in my book club a couple of weeks ago....do you think it's really possible for people to change?  I mean really change, like from the core.  Or are we just who we were meant to be and will always be?  I once dated a guy who was very philosophic.  And by very philosophic I mean he studied intently the lyrics of Radiohead and drank a lot of Starbucks.  He once said he didn't think people ever really changed, they just continued to undo layers of themselves, like onion skin, until they got to the core of who they were supposed to be.  (Can you hear my eyes rolling???)

As a Christian, I think the idea deserves a little thought.  I know people who don't change or won't change.  The people we've forgiven but seem to keep right on wronging us.  And that's aggravating and difficult and unfair and maybe Jesus didn't know about those people when he mentioned forgiving 77 times???  But He did know about them, of course, which reminds us that forgiveness has nothing to do with deservedness or we'd all be toast. 

And what about myself?  I'm certainly not the same gal I was back with Mr. Radiohead.  So is that just age or maturity or circumstances and not real change? 

What I think I've come to is this.  Change is just a word.  Call it aging, maturing, circumstance, unlayering.  Whatever.  But to abandon the idea that our lives and circumstances, our emotions, our spirit aren't capable of becoming more than they are or have ever been, is to deny ourselves and others hope, to deny God's love for us.

To reject the concept of change for anyone is to doubt the power of God in everyone. 

"Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold....the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect God's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."  2 Corinthians 3:12,17-18

Be bold in your hope, friends, for yourself and for those around you.  God's spirit is at work everywhere, in ways we see and ways we do not.  You are loved, you are held, you are His.  Be changed in Christ today.

XOXO....Kelly